The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

'Five rebels, two guards' killed in Iran clashes:. Five rebels and two members of the Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes in Iran's Kordestan province near the Iraqi border, government newspaper Iran reported on Thursday.

Diyala Prv:#1: The Diala police on Thursday arrested 25 wanted persons including an “amir” or leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), killed a gunman from the armed group, defused 14 improvised explosive devices and seized half a ton of a highly explosive material separately, according to a senior security official.

#2: Shimari also said that the police, in a separate incident, shot dead an AQI member while attempting to attack a checkpoint in the area of al-Kabba, Baaquba.

Baaj:#1: Gunmen opened fire at an Iraqi army patrol late on Thursday, killing two soldiers and one officer, in Baaj, 375 km (233 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

Shirqat:#1: Gunmen killed three anti-Qaeda militiamen in northern Iraq overnight in the latest revenge attack against the force credited with turning the tide against the jihadists, police said on Friday. Another three militiamen were wounded in the midnight (2100 GMT) attack on a checkpoint in the centre of the mainly Sunni Arab town of Al-Sharqat, 290 kilometres (180 miles) north of Baghdad, a provincial police officer said.

Mosul:#1: A child and a civilian were wounded on Thursday by an improvised explosive device in eastern Mosul, a police source said. “The bomb exploded on Thursday afternoon (Aug, 26) in central al-Muthanna market, eastern Mosul, injuring a civilian and a 9-year-old child,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the blast did not target any security patrol.

#2: Three army soldiers were killed late Thursday in an armed attack in western Ninewa, chairman of al-Baaj district said on Friday. “Unknown gunmen attacked a military vehicle in Jebrat Marman village, western al-Baaj district, northwest of Mosul, killing three soldiers, including a lieutenant,” Jassem Mohammad Hussein told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Al Anbar Prv:#1: One policeman was killed and 10 people injured in two consecutive blasts in Falluja city, Iraqi police sources said on Friday. Seven civilians were injured when an explosive device went off at midnight near a policeman's house in al-Golan neighbourhood, in Falluja, located some 60 kilometres west of Baghdad. Another blast took place shortly after police arrived at the scene, killing one policeman and injuring three others, sources added.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"#1: A roadside bomb tore through a crowded market in Afghanistan's increasingly volatile north, killing three policemen and two civilians, a police official said today. Another 15 civilians were wounded in yesterday evening's bombing in Kunduz province's Archi town.

#2: Militants have attacked oil tankers carrying fuel supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, torching them in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. A group of unidentified armed men opened fire on an oil tanker at the RCD highway near the Lak Pass area of Quetta while another oil tanker came under attack near the Mongechar area of Kalat district, local police officials told Press TV. Gunmen also fired shots at another oil tanker near the Sor Gaz area of Mastung and then set it ablaze. The oil tanker was reduced to a twisted mass of metal by the fire. The tankers were on their way to the Afghan border from the southern port of Karachi. No human loss was reported in the incidents.

#3: Insurgents launched an attack on a coalition force combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province Thursday and the trading of fire killed four insurgents and one civilian. A press release issued Friday by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the incident, which took place in the Darah-ye Pech district of Kunar province. The coalition force responded to the insurgent attack with mortar fire and called for air support, said the NATO press release. It said an insurgent round was observed to have landed short of its target, allegedly killing an Afghan civilian in a corn field.

#4: An Afghan police commander said Friday that NATO warplanes targeting Taliban insurgents killed six children in a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan known to be a militant hotbed. The alliance said it was investigating claims that civilians had died following the air strike on Thursday against militants who were attacking a military outpost in the restive province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan. Provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziayee told AFP that children were collecting scrap metal on the mountain when NATO aircraft dropped bombs to disperse Taliban fighters attacking a nearby base. "In the bombardment six children, aged six to 12, were killed. Another child was injured," the police commander said.

#5: A suicide bomber killed himself Friday in a market in Mansehra, a district in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, local sources said. The attacker detonated the blast near a mini cinema in central Mansehra, injuring several others.

#6: An unmanned aerial system of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) crashed Thursday in eastern Afghanistan's Wardak province. The ISAF confirmed the incident in a press release, noting that the force has recovered the crashed plane.

1 comments:

"U.S. officials did not dispute that Salehi was on the CIA payroll, which was first reported by The New York Times. But officials sought to draw a distinction between agency payments and corruption probes."

RIGHT.... every country has government officials on the payroll of foreign spy agencies! It's only natural!

"The United States government had nothing to do with the activities for which this individual is being investigated," the second U.S. official said. "It's not news that we sometimes pay people overseas who help the United States do what it needs to get done. . . . Nor should it be surprising, in a place like Afghanistan, that some influential figures can be both helpful and - on their own, separate and apart - corrupt to some degree."

OF COURSE.... taking money from a foreign spy agency is NOT a sign of corruption! If this was a US government official on the payroll of the ISI or Mossad, we would totally understand!

"The flow of CIA money into the region dates to the agency's support for mujaheddin fighters who ousted Soviet forces three decades ago.

The spigot was tightened during the 1990s but reopened after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Much of the money went to support warlords whose militias helped to overthrow the Taliban regime, which had provided sanctuary for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda training camps. Salehi had served as an interpreter for one of the most prominent of those warlords, Abdurrashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek whose forces played a critical role in the campaign against the Taliban.

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK - support the mujaheddin to get rid of the Soviets and the current Afghan government, and then the warlords come to power after the Soviets leave, they are so corrupt, the Taliban come to power, and then we get rid of the Taliban to put the warlords back in place. Dostum, by the way, is responsible for the CONVOY OF DEATH, but hey, gotta break a few eggs or something like that.....

And, of course, helping those mujaheddin helped establish bin Laden's group, and we all learned what that lead to on 9-11-01.....

But it gets better:

"But authorities said the Salehi investigation is also focused on his involvement in administering the palace fund - doling out cash and vehicles to Karzai supporters - as well as his role in negotiations with the Taliban.

Salehi's job put him at the center of some of the most sensitive assignments for the Afghan government. Another national security official, Ibrahim Spinzada, has orchestrated the government's talks with the Taliban and traveled with Salehi to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Russia."

Yeah, we helped the warlords come to power (again) to throw out the Taliban, so that the Afghan government officials can pay off/negotiate with the Taliban, who we are supposedly still fighting. Those al Qaeda guys left Afghanistan years ago.